Agency Blueprint Robert Patin

Do you listen to your internal monologue? What stories do you tell yourself, and how are they impacting you? It’s so easy to get in your own way and tell yourself stories that distract and stagnate your growth.   
In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I explain how to avoid being your worst enemy and instead become a believer in yourself as the first step to growth. I also describe how anxiety affects my decision-making and how I’ve learned to deal with it. 
Don’t miss this episode to learn more about the importance of leaning into the lessons you learned from failed experiences.  
Key Questions:   
[01:35] What situations that have happened in the past impact the way you make decisions?  [05:35] What are the potential opportunities and risks associated with your decision-making? [12:20] What do you do when your confidence is low? 
What You’ll Discover: 
[01:00] The importance of recognizing that you won't make the right decision at the point of anxiety, fear, and scarcity.  [02:09] How not to allow anxiety to overcome you by placing it first to better understand yourself and your decision-making.  [05:13] The two directions to think about when making a decision to make it ahead of time rather than from an emotional place.  [08:05] Understanding that failing at something doesn’t equal failure but an invaluable lesson.  [11:57] How to recognize your progress and success to boost your confidence and power through low moments in your journey.

What are the existing issues that you have in your agency today? How are they preventing you from reaching the next stage of your growth? 
In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I explain how rapid growth can be achieved with the right structure. I also explain why rapid growth and success take deeper focus on what you’re doing instead of spreading your focus thin.   
Listen in to learn how to identify your ideal clients, build a network that gets you referrals, create alignment, and more.  
Key Questions:   
[03:04] What issues are preventing you from reaching the next stage of your growth, and can you solve them today?  [04:19] How do you build a network and position your agency incredibly well? [10:46] How do you take your ideal client on an emotional journey?  
What You’ll Discover: 
[01:38] How having less inputs results in better results and less distraction and chaos. [04:19] The importance of clearly understanding who you’re targeting to build a network that gets you referrals. [07:46] How to build a story around your brand and ideal client by creating alignment.  [09:26] How to create a pricing model that allows you to price things easily and put scopes in front of clients.  [10:46] How to come up with a flexible and structured sales script that makes the emotional journey the same across clients. [12:51] How to build a framework focusing on leadership and management teams and structure the recruiting process.  [14:48] How to manage agency growth by managing the financial components and building down on the KPIs. [17:04] The importance of working with the account management team to focus on cross-selling and upselling. 

Are your decisions guiding you to where you want to take your business? As an agency owner, you should focus your decisions on data to increase revenue, improve profits, and ultimately improve cash flow.  
In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, Jon joins me to discuss the science of agency decision-making and why all decisions should be guided by data. Jon Morris is the Founder and CEO of Ramsay Innovations, a tech-enabled finance and strategic planning company that helps marketing agencies drive success. He was also the Founder and CEO of Rise Interactive, an award-winning full-service digital marketing agency. 
Don’t miss this episode to learn more about the importance of having an operational account, savings account, and media account as a general rule for any agency.  
Key Questions:   
[02:22] What key decisions did you make at Rise that allowed you to scale your agency?  [14:54] What’s your typical advice to clients about how much cash they should have as it reflects in their operational expenses? [21:48] If you were to select one or two things in each category to grow revenue and cash, what would you advise?  
What You’ll Discover:  
[02:32] Jon explains why scaling an agency should be primarily based on revenue, profit, and cash. [05:13] How to increase the percent of your revenue on sales and marketing as a key metric in scaling your business.  [10:21] Strategies to make revenue/profit and invest it back to the sales and marketing piece of your agency.  [15:05] Why you should have at least two to three bank accounts as a general rule to manage operations, savings, and media expenses. [18:52] The advantages of having available cash/resources in your agency to support strategic business operations.  [22:12] The three metrics that matter when you think about growing revenue, plus recommendations on how to best deliver revenue.  
Connect with Jon: 
LinkedInFree eBook: Decision-Making Science for Agencies

What is the productization of agency services, and how can it be done? Productization can be defined as solving a problem you know people have, following a similar identical process for each client. The easiest transition to productization is when it’s derived from things you’ve already been doing for your existing clients, which doesn’t change your agency’s entire process.  
In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Greg Hickman to discuss agency productization and how to design productization correctly. Greg is the Founder and CEO of AltAgency™. Over the last 4 years, Greg and his team have transformed AltAgency™ from an automation consultancy serving many well-known entrepreneurs and growth experts into one of the top coaching and training companies for agencies looking to grow and scale by packaging their expertise, installing systems for growth and leveraging automation to save time. 
Don’t miss this episode to learn what happens when agency owners decide to productize and systemize. 
Key Questions:   
[01:05] What do you define as productization or to productize services for an agency? [08:28] What have you seen with non-productized and non-systemized agencies after they’ve done the work to create process?  [14:37] What are your thoughts about monetizing expertise properly for agency owners?  [24:56] What’s your advice to an agency owner wanting to productize beyond the process-oriented aspects? 
What You’ll Discover:  
[01:19] Greg describes productization as solving a problem you know people have following a similar identical process for each client. [04:10] The difference between the “done for you” and “done with you” modalities and the opportunities layered with the latter. [07:10] How to design productization to include customization and creativity to streamline processes. [08:51] Greg explains what happens when agency owners decide to productize and systemize.  [15:03] How to monetize your expertise by identifying your strategic component that allows for your process.  [19:03] Understanding that clients have a shelf-life and how to extend a lifetime value to them as an advantage to you. [23:17] How to clearly articulate your process to remain unique instead of selling on price.  [25:16] Greg on how to productize the right way beyond the process-oriented pieces.  
Connect with Greg: 
WebsiteYouTubeLinkedIn

Where is your agency’s focus on, efficiency or effectiveness? Is your focus creating the outcome you’re looking for? Maybe it’s time you open up to changing your mindset from efficiency to effectiveness.  
In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, we discuss the key differences between efficiency and effectiveness in a creative agency. We also explain why, as a businessowner, you should focus on developing an effectiveness mindset to create a larger impact on client deliverables and agency processes. 
Don’t miss this episode to learn more about how to refocus the idea of efficiency vs. effectiveness, plus measure effectiveness in your agency.  
Key Questions:   
[01:56] What are the main differences between what would be considered efficiency and effectiveness? [08:31] How do you measure your agency's effectiveness?  
What You’ll Discover: 
[02:14] The main differences between efficiency and effectiveness and why the idea of efficiency is a short-sighted mindset.  [04:36] Understanding that effectiveness is about the larger impact on client deliverables and agency processes.  [08:31] How having an effective team allows you to produce client results in less amount of time.  [10:48] Effectiveness indicators – on-time completion, frequent SOP updates, and the number of revisions. [14:43] The importance of managing your business by the numbers to measure how you’re making profits and providing impact.  [15:38] How to refocus the idea of efficiency vs. effectiveness because agency effectiveness leads to efficiency.

How can you create operational excellence in your agency? The truth is, if you don’t have operational efficiency, you’re going nowhere. Creating operational efficiency is possible; it’s partly about recognizing primary problems, letting go and letting your team, and having a way of measuring where success lies and adjusting to it.  
In this episode of The Agency Blueprint, I’m joined by Rob Sayles to discuss what it takes to create the ideal operational efficiency in an agency. Rob has more than 25 years of experience in the digital marketing industry. He’s taken agencies from startup to exit, built operational divisions within corporates, established working units in various countries, and created global centers of excellence, all focused on creativity, productivity, and profitability.  
Don’t miss this episode to learn the importance of leveraging your team's power to find solutions and avoid creating risks to the business's future.    
Key Questions:   
[01:22] What is ideal operational efficiency in the concept of an agency?  [06:33] What do you think is at the core of many agencies' avoiding systemizing their business and implementing processes?  [08:40] What are the common places within an agency where you see the most inefficiency?  [20:27] What is one of the best ways to leverage the team to create continuous improvement within your systems and processes?  
What You’ll Discover:  
[01:36] Ideal operational efficiency – having as high a margin as possible and producing high-quality service on time and budget.  [03:40] The massive outcomes of the benefits of operational efficiency for the leader, team, and clients.  [07:11] How ego and fear become a barrier to putting in an operating system and process of people working together.  [08:48] Understanding what causes fundamental inefficiencies of an agency and how to solve them.  [12:02] How to be proactive and find solutions to the existing problems and avoid creating risk to the future of the business.   [20:36] How to leverage the power of your team to create continuous improvement within your systems and processes.  [23:11] The importance of constantly taking steps into the unknown and having a way of measuring where success lies and adjusting to it.  [26:19] How to empower your team to make decisions and learn for themselves by removing yourself from every situation.  
Connect with Rob: 
Website